A Northwestern trustee and his wife have donated $3.6 million to fund scholarships for high-achieving, low-income Chicago Public Schools students to attend NU, the University announced Tuesday.

The endowment is part of a $5 million donation by Michael Sacks (Kellogg ’88, Law ’88) and Cari Sacks. The new Cari and Michael Sacks Scholarship Fund for CPS Students will eliminate loans for students receiving the scholarship, allowing them to graduate without debt.

“Cari and I are proud to focus our additional support on helping CPS graduates who attend Northwestern,” Michael Sacks said in a news release. “We want to create more opportunity for CPS kids and there is no better opportunity than a Northwestern education.”

The scholarship is the latest in a series of ongoing efforts by NU to provide college opportunities to Chicago students, the University said. Since the 2010-11 academic year, the University’s Good Neighbor, Great University program has provided scholarships to Evanston and CPS students who choose to come to NU.

“Our involvement with Chicago schools and our commitment to CPS students is strong and far-reaching. Thanks to the generosity of Michael and Cari Sacks, it is growing,” University President Morton Schapiro said in the news release.

Michael Sacks, who has been a University trustee since 2007, is CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management and vice chairman of World Business Chicago. Cari Sacks serves on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

— Jeanne Kuang